


Bargained

by fishfingersandjellybabies



Series: Talon!Damian AU [15]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-08
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-19 20:11:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4759427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishfingersandjellybabies/pseuds/fishfingersandjellybabies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I want to make a deal...a deal for his Talon."</p><p>Or, an alternate ending to <i>Trial and Error</i>, where Tim's request to trade himself for Damian was granted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Worth It

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of fans of the AU liked this alternate storyline - made up of a few three sentence fics and one long one - about if Tim's attempt to trade himself for Damian (at the end of _Trial and Error_ ) worked, and he became Owlman's captive Talon. Includes bits about Tim's transition into being the Talon, and his eventual return to the Batfamily.
> 
>  **This is not at all part of the main Talon!Damian universe.** But is being included in the series grouping for organization's sake.

~~

"The deal is accepted."

~~

The Court agreed to the deal, and Damian was harshly knocked unconscious before he could protest.

The next few hours were a blur. Blood tests and IVs. Stripped naked and new costumes. He could feel the Electrum being pumped into his veins, but no sign of any attempt at mind control yet. Perhaps a gesture of good faith. Tim came to them with the proposal after all, with a sound mind and a clear conscious.

When all was finished, he was returned to the main room, where Damian was still slumped against the ground, hanging by Owlman’s grasp on his collar.

“Your first task.” Owlman spelled out. “Take him to his father. Don’t be seen.”

So Tim did. He raced across Gotham, Damian clutched protectively to his chest. Snuck in the dark corner of Wayne Manor’s security grid. Climbed the wall to Damian’s bedroom. Settled the boy gently into his bed. Even tucked him in.

And he knew the consequences. Knew the Owls would be watching, and knew they would count this as a failure. That he would be punished. But he had to let them know. Alfred, Dick, Bruce and the rest. Had to let them know their lost child had been found and returned.

He lit a flame in the fireplace next to the mattress. Kissed Damian’s forehead and hopped out the window.

He disappeared into the trees as the alarm he’d tripped began ringing across the grounds.

~~

They were all running around the grounds, trying to figure out what had set off the alarms. Dick’s shout was abrupt, and from a wing of the house he had no business searching, not in this situation. 

“Bruce…!” His tone was half strangled, a mixture pain and surprise.  _“Bruce!”_

He was barely through the bedroom’s threshold when he was forced to freeze. There was a _child_ in the bed. Sleeping, he thought. He _hoped_. Dick was leaning over him, checking his vitals, eyes darting between Damian’s face and a note in his hand. When he looked up at Bruce, tears spilled over, and down his cheeks.

“Bruce, something…” He paused, looking for the right adjective as he looked back down at Damian. In the end, he decided not to use one as he held out the note. “…something’s happened.”

Bruce moved forward, snatching the note away. Just in time, too, as Dick collapsed against the side of the mattress, clutching Damian tightly to his chest. He could feel his heart breaking as he scanned the few scribbled words.

_I’d say sorry if it wasn’t worth it. Keep him safe this time. -Tim_

~~

His return was full of love. One by one everyone came forward with hugs, tears or kisses.

Then, the family thinned out. Then, it was Damian’s turn.

The boy looked considerably better than last time Tim had seen him, that night he was returned home. His skin was no longer so pale, his face no longer blank and thin. Still a few bandages peeking out of his clothes, and his eyes remained tinged with yellow.

Yellow and furious.

He stared at Tim with such fury. Such… _hatred._ Tim wondered if maybe only some of Damian’s memories returned, if he only remembered part of their past relationship.

“Idiot.” Damian spat, though it sounded more pained than angry. And Tim instantly knew. Damian wasn’t angry at him. He was angry that someone else went through what he did. That someone else was in the Court’s grasp, and had gone through such terrible torture.

That Tim purposely put himself there to save _him._

No one else was going to understand. Not even Dick, as much as he was going to try.

Tim had a lot of healing to go through. Damian still did too.

He reached out, pulling Damian to his chest. Damian didn’t fight it, just wrapped his arms almost chokingly around Tim’s waist. “You’re an _idiot._ ”

_Thank you. I’m sorry._

“Yeah.” Tim smiled weakly, burying his nose in Damian’s hair. “I guess I am.”

_You were worth it._


	2. Stumbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce and Dick could only watch, as their two broken boys tried to fix each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I went with the Talon!Damian Tim-alternate story, despite my desperate want to discontinue everything about it. I’m glad you all weirdly enjoy it, but no more prompts for it please, I’m begging, haha. Tim’s nightmare was that Owlman took Damian back to the Court, probably killing Tim in the process, and Damian’s was that Owlman comes into their home and slaughters them all. Dick definitely goes upstairs and gives them both forehead kisses later.

Bruce could see the longing etched into Dick’s face. The pure, unadulterated _want_.

Two of his little brothers were hurting. And there was nothing he could do to help them.

But under the ache, Bruce could see something else, too. _Jealousy_. Only a tiny bit, just enough to be noticeable.

Because he couldn’t help them. But they could help each other.

And what a turn around _that_ was.

There was no other way for it to happen, really. They were the only two who had been through it. The only two who knew what terrors were going through the other’s mind. It’s not like they were going to share those tortures with any one else. They weren’t going to tell Bruce or Cassandra or Barbara or Dick. No, their boys were too kind. Too sweet to force others to live through their pain too.

And for someone like Dick – who loved and cared at full force always, there was no slowing down for him – the silence from two of the ones he held dearest was unbearable.

Especially nights like tonight, when he and Bruce were stuck in the cave, pouring over evidence and files for a case. When they took a break and flipped on the manor’s security cameras only to see Damian throwing his bedroom door open, eyes wide with fear as he tore down the hallway, Titus close on his heels.

“I’ll get him.” Dick murmured, backing up and turning. Bruce caught his arm before he could go anywhere, and he spun back around with a fierce and frustrated glare. “Bruce, he needs m-”

“He doesn’t need anything.” Bruce responded sadly, as Damian stumbled over his own feet, almost crashing haphazardly to the ground. “He’s going to Tim.”

He felt Dick’s muscles drop in defeat.

Bruce held him for another second, confirming that Dick wouldn’t try to run up and interfere anyway, before letting go to hit a button on the keyboard. The sound of pattering feet and claws filled the cave, along with the miserable hitch of low sobs.

Bruce and Dick glanced to another monitor, watching as Tim burst from his room, twisting around frantically in search of the pitiful noises. Damian appeared around the corner two seconds later, and Tim ran at him, snatching him up as he staggered once more.

“He’s coming, isn’t he,” Damian gasped as Tim clutched him close, lowered to his knees smack in the middle of the hallway. Titus skidded to a halt, crowding protectively around them. “Owlman’s coming. He’s going to kill everyone and take us back.”

“No, he’s not.” Tim promised smoothly, running a hand over the back of Damian’s head, even as the younger boy clawed at his shirt, eyes frantic as they twitched around the hallway. “We’re safe.”

“We’re not.” Damian breathed. Titus whimpered. “No one is. He’s going to come, Drake. He’s going to come, and he’s going to kill Father, he’s…he’s going to kill _Grayson_. We have to, we _need_ -”

“Shhh,” Tim cooed, wrapping an arm tight around Damian’s shoulders as he began to rock them back and forth. Damian kept whining quietly, kept pushing against Tim’s sides as the elder held him still. “Deep breaths for me, Damian. Just like last time.”

And Bruce doesn’t know what it was about those words, doesn’t know how he could even see it, but slowly it dawned on him. Tim was shaking. _Had_ been shaking since he’d emerged from his own bedroom.

And then it hit him instantly.

Tim didn’t come out of his room because he heard Damian. He didn’t jump out to save a little boy from his nightmares.

He was looking for salvation from his own.

In his periphery, he saw Dick come to the same conclusion. Saw him close his eyes and turn away.

“In,” Tim recited, sucking in a deep breath of his own, waiting until Damian did the same. In their moment of pause, he reassuringly kissed at the crown of Damian’s head – and Bruce wondered who, exactly, that comfort was for. “And out.”

Tim repeated the mantra a few times, until the words started to take effect, until Damian’s muscles began to loosen, and he slumped into Tim’s chest. Through the grain of the security camera, Bruce and Dick could see Damian still speaking as Titus licked at his face, still mumbling in fear, but it was much too quiet for the microphones to pick up. They knew it was probably just more of the same, though.

Tim, however, didn’t relax. He still clung to Damian’s shoulders as tight as he could, still kept his face pressed firmly against Damian’s head. The trembling of his shoulders didn’t weaken, just held fast as the soft moments ticked by.

“We let _him_ do this.” Dick hissed, running a hand across his forehead and through his hair. “We let this _happen_.”

“Not again, Dick.” Bruce sighed, keeping his eyes on the screen. “We’ve been over this.”

“And we’re going to _keep_ going over it until something is done. Until we catch that piece of shit, and give him the punishment he _deserves_.” Dick snapped. The anger didn’t stay, though. Easily evaporated as he turned back to the screens with a quiet confession. “…I want to kill him, Bruce. I want to kill that monster for what he did to them.”

“Get in line.” Bruce agreed, shifting closer to the monitors. “Now, hush.”

Dick complied, going as far as to turn the volume up on the computer. Not that there was anything to hear, Tim and Damian were still just sitting silently in the hallway, holding onto each other.

It was another minute, maybe two, maybe even five, before anyone spoke again.

“Was it the same dream as last time?” Tim whispered gently.

Damian nodded, but didn’t elaborate. “Yours?”

“Yeah.” Tim hummed. His voice was quivering. “Yeah, it was.”

“I’m sorry.” Damian mumbled, shifting to lean his cheek against Tim’s shoulder.

“I’m just glad I woke up before the end this time. Before he took you back.” Tim shrugged, like his admission as to what his dream was about wasn’t a big deal. “It sounds like _you_ didn’t, though.”

“No.” Damian exhaled. “No, I didn’t. I thought Owlman truly was in our home until about two minutes ago.”

“Ouch.” Tim observed. One side of his lips quirked upwards for a millisecond, like a secret was just shared and it was funny. “You think Bruce is home yet?”

“I hope not.” Damian returned, with a little bit of amusement of his own. “He and Grayson will _panic_ if they find us collapsed on the hallway floor like this.”

“You know they’ll panic regardless.” Tim drawled. “Though, I suppose you and I have yet to give them a reason not to.”

“We’re working on it.” Damian said, and it sounded like that was a common phrase between them. Tim grunted in response, and, without another word, lifted the boy off the ground, turned and headed back into his bedroom.

Bruce thought wearily back to a time when Damian would rather die than be in Tim’s room. Would rather keel over right then rather than be cocooned safely in his predecessor’s arms. When Tim would rather puke than offer either of these to the child.

Nothing else was shared between them as Tim gently sat Damian on the bed, held up the blankets until the boy had himself settled the way he wanted to be, then laid them carefully over him. Quickly, he moved around the mattress, plopping down on the other side, and repeating the routine with himself. As soon as he was done, Titus followed suite, and laid across the bottom of the bed.

Once both boys and dog were settled, Damian rolled into Tim’s waiting embrace.

“He’s not coming.” Tim said softly, and once again, it sounded like a motto the two reiterated to each other often. “You and I are safe. Bruce and our family are safe. Owlman can’t get us here.”

Damian nodded, squeezing his eyes shut. “I’m sorry you had that dream again.”

“I’m sorry you did, too.”

“One day soon, maybe you won’t.”

“Hopefully one day soon, you won’t either.”

“…Goodnight, Drake.”

“Goodnight, Damian.”

Bruce and Dick waited for a few more minutes, watching as their boys fell into a fragilely calm sleep. Then, with nothing else to see, Bruce sighed and leaned forward, shutting off the security feed as Dick turned away from the security feed with a heartbroken smile.

“Goodnight, little brothers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Other Talon!Damian stories](http://fishfingersandjellybabies.tumblr.com/search/talon%21damian)   
> 

**Author's Note:**

> [Other Talon!Damian stories](http://fishfingersandjellybabies.tumblr.com/search/talon%21damian)   
> 


End file.
